378 RETROGREf^SIVE CH.WGES 



attributes to anions which cannot pass through the cell wall, and 

 therefore accumulate on that side of the organism. If an alter- 

 nating current is used, both anode and cathode sides of the cell are 

 affected. In moving organisms electric currents determine direction 

 of motion, even certain vertebrates (tadpoles, fish) being made to 

 orient themselves according to the current. The nucleus seems to be 

 more susceptible to harm by electric currents than the cytoplasm 

 (Pfeffer),^'- and there seems to be no oxidation-process involved in 

 cell destruction by electricity (as is the case with light rays), for the 

 effects are much the same in the absence of oxygen (Klemm). 

 Schmaus and Albrecht state that the effect of electricity upon proto- 

 plasm depends upon a loosening of the cohesion and a solution of the 

 constituents of the cell (vacuolization), which last is, perhaps, due 

 to direct chemical alterations. It may be suggested that the electric 

 current causes a migration of ions toward one or the other pole 

 of the cell, in this way separating the movable inorganic ions of the 

 ion-protein compounds of the cell from the immobile colloidal pro- 

 teins, with consequent serious alterations in the chemistry of the cell. 

 Zeit ^^ found that continuous currents kill bacteria through the pro- 

 duction of antiseptic substances in the culture-medium, but do not 

 harm them directly. 



Jellinek •'* has studied extensively the cause of death after severe 

 electric shocks, and finds that there are produced intracerebral hemor- 

 rhages and degeneration of the nerve-cells, which are sufficient to 

 explain the death of the individual without having recourse to the 

 more indefinite idea of "shock." Cunningham ^^ considers fibrillary 

 contraction of the heart as the cause of death.^*' Spitzka and 

 Radasch " find changes in the brains of electrocuted criminals, which 

 indicate a sudden liberation of gas about the blood vessels, along which 

 the current passes. The amperage seems to be far more important in 

 determining the effect of a current than the voltage or wattage."''-'^ 



Chemicals cause cell death whenever they are of such a nature as 

 either to coagulate the cell proteins or to destroy its enzymes. The 

 action of such substances as sulphuric acid, strong caustics, etc., 

 hardly calls for ex])lanation. Phenol (carbolic acid) may cause ne- 

 crosis and gangrene even when in very dilute solution ; this appears 

 to be due more to the production of hyaline thrombi of agglutinated 

 red corpuscles in the capillaries than to direct action upon the cells. 

 In some unpublished experiments on the subject of "carbolic acid 

 gangrene," 1 found this action of phenol very striking when dilute 



52 Literature given bv Davenport. "Experimental Morphology." 

 •"■3 .Tour. Amer. Mod. Assoc. 1001 (.37), 1432, literature. 

 S4 Vircliow's Arcli., 1002 (170), oO; Lancet, 1003 (i), 357. 

 n.iXew York Med. .lour., ISOO (70), 'jSl. 



•'^» T'^lll discussion bv .TelliJTe in Peterson and irainos" "Loiral ^lediciiio and 

 Toxicologv," 1003 (1)"24.'5. 



57 Amer. .Tour. Med. Sci., 1012 (144), 341. 



57a Jellinek, Wien. klin. Woeli., 1013 (20), 170;{. 



